By Li Zengxin (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-08-24 16:34

Mainland residents will be able to apply for accounts to buy Hong Kong stocks in Tianjin from next week, said BOC, the first mainland lender to offer the service.

"We expect to start accepting applications from customers in Tianjin from next week and to gradually extend the service to 40 major cities," Xiao Gang, chairman of BOC, said in Beijing yesterday at a briefing to report the bank's first-half financial results. BOC will publish application details next week, according to the chairman.

As the Shanghai Composite Index hit the historical high of 5,000-point yesterday and consolidated its position today, the benchmark indicator for China's stock market has nearly doubled from the beginning of this year and grown three times as high as mid-August last year. The index climbed up 9.7 percent this week alone.

Such extraordinary performance has made the Chinese stock market one of the fastest growing markets in the world and the favorite of both fund-raisers and investors alike. Mainland companies listed in Hong Kong, because of the previous sluggish performance of the home market, are now enthusiastic to come back.

A shareholder's meeting of PetroChina held on August 10 approved the company's A-share issuance plan, according to the Shanghai Securities News. The company may issue 4 billion A shares at most, accounting for 2.18 percent of the total share base, said chief director Jiang Jiemin on a mid-term result press conference yesterday.

China Construction Bank also passed a similar plan. According to a statement by the third-largest commercial bank in China to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the bank aims to issue 9 billion A shares at most, accounting for 3.85 percent of its total share base.

In addition, Chen Biting, chief director of China Shenzhua Energy, said in Hong Kong yesterday that the company has hired China International Capital Corp and China Galaxy Securities as its initial public offering advisors. He said the company plans to list in Shanghai by the end of the year with an A-share issue of no more than 1.8 billion shares.

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